24th Annual Grand Traverse Earth Day Parade: Art as Community Building
penny krebiehl
The 24th Annual Grand Traverse Earth Day Parade and Community Celebration: Saturday April, 20th, 2013.
Little Artshram & Friends present the annual Earth Day Parade and celebration that has been a vibrant example of art as community building in the Traverse City area for 24 years in North West Michigan.
For many in Traverse City, the Earth Day Parade is a time to celebrate the coming warmth with hand-built puppets and masks (some over 10 feet tall), music, and performance in the street. But the essence of the parade is rooted in the local community and contemporary issues, concerns, and visions for a better world.
When the community workshops began the last Saturday of March, Blackbird Arts became our parade headquarters and was converted into a puppet-making studio space. Throughout the month, everyone is invited to the 8 public workshops at Blackbird Arts----plus a total of 6 workshops at The Great Lakes Children's Museum and SCRAP Tc! All who enter participate in building of this communal story through the creation of puppets and masks.
By the time the parade unfolds on the first Sunday of May, more than 50,000 people from near and far fill the streets both as participants and spectators for this day of celebration and community.
This Year’s Theme
The theme for the 24th Annual Earth Day Parade and Community Celebration is Seeds! Awesome Vessels of Power. The story this year is inspired by a phrase from our Earth Day Parade mentors, created by the venerable Heart of the Beast Theater in Minnesota. This year is the 39th anniversary for that theater, AND the 50th anniversary of Bread and Puppet in Vermont---one of the oldest puppet theaters in the country, with both being an inspiration for many puppeteers and artists of all stripes!
Joining the Little Artshram
parade-building crew this year is our special guest artist, George
Meyer, who comes from the Ozark Mountains, by way of In the Heart of the
Beast Puppet and Mask Theater in Minnesota! And, I hope you can meet him!
George Meyer,
lives in Eureka Springs Arkansas, and brings 20 years of puppetry art
experience through In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater,
from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and The Village Theatre in Arkansas. He is
a skilled not only as a puppet builder and performer, but also as a
lighting designer. George is happy to be in Michigan again, since
helping to build a parade in Lansing, in 1998 with Little
Artshram’s/ARTSPACE crew. George has deep love and great respect for
the Earth and is honored to be a part of our parade building and design team creating the "Seeds! Awesome Vessels of Power" story-theme.
"Seeds! Awesome Vessels of Power" is an everyday lesson and simple story about the life-cycle of the seed, and how our actions affect our
beautiful, seeded world and planet home. If we care for the world, and let the sun shine on it,
and water it, the crops will grow, and so will the children. If we put
poison on the world, however, if we do not tend to our precious seeds then we will lose our food, our nourishment and nothing can
survive. The power of this story lies in the simple beauty of the seed's life unfolding, its simplicity, and its
profound call to action. We are pleased to be presenting a fresh
version of the story of the precious seed for the 24th annual Earth Day Parade and Community Celebration!
Earth Day Parade Details:
The Earth Day Parade is on Saturday April 20th, NEW PARADE ROUTE: beginning at Oryana Co-op--the corner of Lake and 10th St, parade line-up begins @ 11:30 am departs @ 12:30 pm.
MANY THANKS to our sponsors so far: Blackbird Arts, SCRAP TC, The
Great Lakes Children's Museum, Little Artshram, O'k Puppet and Mask
Theater, The Village Theatre, The Good Work Collective, Mayor and Mrs.
Michael Estes, Oryana Cooperative, NMC Student Life Organization, TC
Sings!, Dede Alderman, Rokko Jans, Zach Power....and more...
Direct Contact for parade workshop and sponsorship details:`penny @ 231-922-2014
LOTSA' INFORMATION about our parade-building and community celebration
by following this link:
http://www.littleartshram.org/?p=1841
Or scrolling through any of our front-page missives about our parade:
AND, we are thrilled with our collaborators and for a fantastic after-party join us at the NMC Dirt Fest, with an incredible music-line-up at: www.nmc.org/dirtfest
